March ‘05 Volume 2.

The Wastewater
Insight
MYSTERY BUG OF THE MONTH
BIOAUGMENTATION TIPS

Bioaugmentation. . . Bugs We started this month out with a new

Mystery Bug of the month!
I've heard a lot about it but didn't
Check out our website for more photos of this very
it have the reputation in the past interesting organism!!!!
WWW.EnvironmentalLeverage.com
as snake oil?
Yes, we agree with you. In the past there were tons of
misconceptions about biological products. There were many
companies trying to sell biological products. There were tons of
companies trying to manufacture products. There were many
names, different types of
products, totally different
recommendations on dosing
and pricing seemed like it was
picked out of a hat.
Bioaugmentation reps had a
worse reputation than car
Naked Amoeba- they usually indicate young sludge or
salesmen.
recent high BOD loading

It was perpetuated by the fact that the biological portion of a

wastewater system seemed like the mystery black box.
Engineers who were comfortable with numbers could evaluate BOD:Sludge Ratios
other parts of the system. You could measure flow, pumps, Basic Steel (coke): 1.0:0.15
hydraulics, loading, or many other variables in and around a Petroleum Refining 1.0:0.35
system. Those darn little bugs just did not follow any real math. Chemical Process 1.0:0.35
So many engineers and operators were not really fond of the Sanitary (Municipal) 1.0:0.3-0.5
biological portion of the system. Many times polymers and Pulp & Paper 1.0:0.5
chemicals were used as Band-Aids to overcome any Brewing 1.0:0.6
deficiencies in the biological portion. There was not a lot of Food Processing 1.0:0.7
easy to follow training on the biological portion of the system
either. A lot of the training was at a highly technical level and You can use bacteria in an old sludge lagoon to reduce solids,
many operators were overwhelmed at what appeared to be a but it is more a matter of old leftover organic material that has built
daunting task to understand what was going on in their system. up and by using selected bacterial products, you can reduce
some of the solids to avoid dredging as often. Sooner or later
Many companies popped up 20-30 years ago selling biological though, all lagoons will need to be dredged. There will be some
products. Overdosing occurred and was often abused since solids accumulation.
some of the sales reps could take advantage of the lack of
understanding of the biological portion of the system. They 2- No matter which bacteria you use, whether you depend on
assumed the sales rep knew more than they did, believed them the indigenous bacteria already in your system, or use liquid
and often over purchased products and then were often or dry cultures from a supplier all bacteria require a
disappointed in the results. minimum amount of steady conditions we call the "Critical
5 plus One". Bacteria are not Superbugs- they all need
Here are a few quick and easy things to these conditions monitored or they will not work correctly.
remember no matter where you purchase
products from: INSIDE
1 Bug Of the Month
1- Bacteria are not cannibals- they do not eat each other-
2 Bioaugmentation
and technically they will not eat old sludge and completely
make it go away. There is a law of matter involved- for 3 How to evaluate biological
every pound of BOD- X amount of lbs. of Biosolids will be products
created. The ratios may change depending upon the type EPA Corner
of industry you are in or your plant process, but these can
4
be used as a quick rule of thumb. 5 New Websites
 2 WWW.EnvironmentalLeverage.com The Wastewater Insight
Environmental parameters for biological activity inoculation. Some areas may include ongoing population
including: enhancement of activated sludge in order to meet permit
PARAMETER ACCEPTABLE OPTIMUM restrictions such as BOD or TSS. Solids Reduction and handling
Dissolved Oxygen >0.5 mg/l 1.0 - 2.0 mg/l costs is a growing area that is constantly in need of address
Temperature 50 - 95° F 77 - 95 ° F even when the plant is running fine on other variables.
pH 6.0 - 9.0 7.0 - 8.0 Filamentous control, foaming, grease reduction are areas where
Ammonia Residual 1.0 - 3.0 mg/l 2.0 - 3.0 mg/l bioaugmentation can be used for short periods of time until
Ortho-phosphate Residual 0.5 - 2.0 mg/l 1.0 - 2.0 mg/l process changes can be implemented long term to solve the
• Residual should be measured in the final effluent. problems. Under- designed plants or older plants where new
**Alkalinity is the plus one and is only applicable where growth in a community is faster than building new plants are
nitrification is required. often applications where biological products are used for only a
period of time. Some plants only use biological products during
3- Bacteria can come in the winter (colder) months when activity of the biomass slows
many different sizes, shapes or down due to temperature drops (biological activity can drop one
formulations. There may be dry log growth for each 10 degrees). Many food or industrial plants
formulations, liquid, Cubes or that have pretreatment permits use biological permits to lower
Blocks. The reason they are made their surcharges. There are many applications for use of
in different formulations is usually biological products. Make sure the cost justifies the return.
just for ease of application. General
rule of thumb, dry products are 6- Why use biological products when there is always a
almost always more concentrated and you get more of the plant down the street that I can just go borrow sludge
bacterial formulation for your money instead of paying for liquid from? The biosolids from a plant are not free- the cost of
carrier. You must consider handling concerns and application trucking and handling sometimes are more than the cost of
though when choosing a product. Be careful about biological prepared biological cultures. There are no pathogens, filaments,
counts. Numbers are not as important as types- check out zooglea, tetrads, inorganic debris or other variables that might be
handout on evaluation of biological products. present in sludge from a neighboring plant. With commercial
cultures, the products are highly concentrated, stable, and can
4- Application of bacteria can significantly improve actually be “grown up” prior to application, which greatly
many systems. Although many believe that there already are enhances the cost-effectiveness.
bacteria present in a system, so why should you supplement
with more bacteria when you can grow your own? That may be 7- You cannot buy "higher Life forms" These are indicator
true, there are bacteria in a system, but are they the right type organisms. They show up in a system and disappear according
and to the health and age of the biomass. The bacteria in the system
are perform 98% of all BOD removal; not the little critters that people
they often assume are working in the system. See attached sheet on
higher life forms evaluation.

8- There are many things to consider when determining

biological applications- cost, ease of application, benefits,
safety, environmental impacts, permit restrictions, etc. Bacterial
products are not black magic, can be easily applied and can
significantly improve many situations. Just be sure to check all
the variables and don't be afraid to investigate and do some
homework! It really is quite easy and they are very efficient if
treated properly.
sufficiently achieving what your plant needs to accomplish. If
your plant is currently meeting BOD and TSS permits, solids Here are before and after pictures of a Municipal plant that had
handling is not a problem, there are not filaments or foaming and filaments and foaming problems. Solids were floating in the
everything is running the best it possibly can, then no clarifier due to Microthrix and Nocardia. A brief bioaugmentation
bioaugmentation is necessary. program was implemented to reseed the plant after heavy
wasting and chlorination.
There is a saying, if it isn't broken, don't fix it. We agree. The only
reason to add bacterial supplements is when the plant may be
over designed, under designed, having a hard time meeting
permits, solids handling costs are too high, grease from lift
stations is causing problems, Foaming or filaments are a problem.
There has to be a need and a problem that might benefit from the
bacteria in order to justify the cost of supplementing a system. If
significant returns on investment can be achieved, then Here is a Municipal Lift station that uses biological products
bioaugmentation definitely should be looked into.

5- Applications of biological products- Biological

products are used for many different reasons.
Some of these may be rapid building of a biomass during a
system start-up, recovery from an upset or toxic shock,
reseeding after chlorination for filamentous control, reseeding
after hydraulic washout. Some may use products for enhancing
performance in once-through systems via ongoing supplemental
 3 WWW.EnvironmentalLeverage.com The Wastewater Insight
*Note- Sometimes if companies are aware that a product is going
How do I evaluate Biological to be used for comparison studies between other companies and
products? competitive biological products, they have been known to "spike "
the test sample to a higher concentration of bacteria in order for
It is very confusing, one person says
their product to
his product has 1 billion count
deliver higher results. Be careful what you tell the supplier or
product, Another vendor says his
make sure that what sample they deliver meets those same
product is better because it has 5 x
specs continually. Hold them to the plate counts on their
109 cfu, still a third says his product
product if they maintain that this is
has "3+ billion per gram viable cell
their normal product quality.
count". What is the difference and
what do those terms mean?
Here is a photo of two sets of
plates. One product is mostly
It is confusing, how do they all
bacillus or gram positive bacteria.
compare?
The set on the right is a mixture
Well one thing to note- cfu stands for colony forming units. It is a
with a high blend of Gram negative
measure of plate counting bacteria to get official numeration of
bacteria and mostly pseuds. The
the amount of bacteria
plate on the right, regardless of
present per gram of
the initial counts, showed higher growth potential and activity,
product.
more natural polysaccharides, which help to form floc and
reduce TSS and polymer consumption in final clarifiers.
Make sure the CFU or
plate counts are per
Here is a two-week trial of our biological product vs. a
gram vs. per gallon, per lb, etc. What you are measuring has to
competitor product. Our product has only a count of 1 billion
correlate to how you obtained the sample, how much of the
per gram, but it is mostly gram negative bacteria. Here is a
sample is used and how the results were achieved. Sound
competitor product used at an outside lab in a treatability study.
complicated, well it can be. Sometimes vendors use plate counts
Formula A has a count of 5 billion per gram. This study was run
as a "magic number" to wave around and try to out maneuver
for three weeks.
their competitors.
What you can see from the trial is that even though two sets of
Numbers are not always as important as the types of bacteria
flasks were run of each product, a 1% solution and a 3 %
present. We have done years of studies that prove that the
solution, Formula A had significantly higher counts in the original
number of bacteria present is not as critical as the types of
product, but it could never reach the level of activity that our
bacteria present. We have found in most wastewater treatment
MicroClear formulation achieved instantly. MicroClear was also
facilities, that it is the Gram Negative bacteria that are better floc
able to stay at the higher level of activity throughout the
formers. Bacillus and Gram positive bacteria do not form as solid
experiment. Formula a peaked at day 3, dropped off at day 7 and
of a floc structure.
stayed at a significantly lower level throughout the entire
experiment than the MicroClear product.
Both types of bacteria will degrade BOD similarly. But in most Midwest Refinery, Treatability Study
Total Viable Counts
treatment plants, BOD as well as TSS is important, therefore, floc 1.E+10

structure is very important.

1.E+09

One thing we did when testing and developing products was to 1.E+08
Total Viable Counts, cfu/mL

perform shake flask tests. Shake flask

1.E+07
studies are conducted for treatability A TVC 100% T507 Control
B TVC 100% T507 + 1% Formula A
studies of wastewater samples to 1.E+06 C TVC 100% T507 + 3% Formula A

reduce overall BOD or to target a specific D TVC 100% T507 + 1% MicroClear 400
E TVC 100% T507 + 3% MicroClear 400
1.E+05
compound and to improve settling
characteristics. It can be used for toxicity 1.E+04

studies or for product screening

1.E+03
procedures. It is similar to a quick and 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

dirty jar testing for polymers that most Treatment time, days
Also note, that 3%
people are familiar with but takes a little
of Formula A could not reach the level of only 1% of MicroClear in
bit more time and is used to evaluate the
spite of the higher initial counts and in spite of the 3 times the
performance of biological products.
dosage in the 3% vs. 1% flask.
This proves that counts on products are meaningless.
These studies use various strains of bacteria and different
supplier's products to test counts vs. types of bacteria present.
Treatability Study Guidelines:
BOD removal, floc formation, higher life
The treatability of the wastewater samples is determined on the
forms present, and TSS were all
basis of
measurements that were taken into
• Relative increase in bacterial counts (Tfinal / Tinitial)
consideration. If plate counts are
• Decrease in TOC over the 24-hr period.
performed, the number of bacteria, the size
• Microscopic Examination including
and shape of the colonies on the plate as
• Number and morphology of floc structures, color,
well as the diversity must be taken into
settleability, size and shape
consideration. Slime formation on the
• Quantification of higher life forms- types as well as numbers
plates should be evaluated also.
• Clarity of the bulk water
 4 WWW.EnvironmentalLeverage.com The Wastewater Insight
solids handling optimization, but the plant is waiting on an
Ok, well that example was just a lab test, sometimes additional tank up front to store settled solids that are recycled
field tests may prove to be different. Do you still doubt that back into the system. The plant at one point had an upset for a
the number of bacteria is not as critical as the type of strains? two-week period; twice the loading of BOD was entering the
Think of it this way, if you were to chose a basketball team and lagoons. The final BOD was still below previous year's final
had 10 guys off the street vs. 5 Michael Jordans- who do you effluent values and way below permit levels!
think would give you better results? You do not chose a polymer
program based upon actives or molecular count, but on Additional Comments: If using this for a guideline to compare
performance, why should you choose your bacterial products biological programs and vendors, please take into consideration
based upon numbers? Total Program value, cost per equivalent product in ratio,
evaluations of shake flask testing, BOD/TOC as well as TSS
Still not convinced? Here is a Case History from an actual comparisons. Health of the biomass after
papermill that was using Formula A. They were using 3-5 lbs of
Formula A per day to help them with BOD and TSS removal. We
switched them to a dual program with 1 lb of our MicroSolv 118
addition of product, Technical support,
training, program consulting, experience
and additional corporate back-up are also
EPA
and one lb of MicroClear M100- a micronutrient formulation. Check considerations that need to be accounted for. Many times the
out the amazing differences in spite of "lower numbers". EPA can be involved with plants, new permit evaluations, etc.
make sure your vendor is capable of providing you these
Papermills: Case History with Total services and recommendations if needed.
System Optimization:
100% Recycle papermill 2-Day Free Workshops: Emergency Response to Threats
The first stage of the lagoon was of Intentional Contamination of Public Water Supplies
aerated, second and third settling Overview EPA-sponsored workshops to further assist utilities
lagoons. Large amounts of algae, and emergency responders in preparing for threats and potential
scum and duckweed covered the incidents. Day 1: Instructional training on emergency response
last two stages of the pond. This pond was on a bioaugmentation including an extensive review of EPA's Response Protocol
program for years. Toolbox, and a discussion of the National Incident Management
System (NIMS) -- the protocol for managing public emergencies
An audit was conducted, recommendations to move one of the ranging from accidents and natural disasters to acts of terrorism.
aerators to the first half of the second stage were made to allow The NIMS instruction will focus on the Incident Command System
more oxygen to carry through the rest of the system. (ICS) and the activation of Emergency Operations Centers
Bioaugmentation was changed from 2-5 lbs of product per day (EOCs). Day 2: Detailed tabletop exercise centered on an
from local supplier to 1-2 lbs of MicroClear 118 and 1 lb of intentional contamination event of a public water supply. The goal
Micronutrients. of the exercise is to bring representatives of the key response
agencies together to apply the guidance provided during the first
In less than 2 weeks, the scum was gone off the pond, the BOD day of training. Intended Audience : The following entities are
and TSS removal improved, floc structures increased encouraged to attend: water utilities, FBI, local and state police,
significantly and higher life activity went sky high. Short, free- emergency responders, EPA, state
floating filaments disappeared. Spirillum (usually an indication of regulatory agencies, state and local health
septic conditions) and zooglea were gone after changes in departments, and elected officials.
treatment. Some filaments are still in the floc structures, mostly Cost: Free with 1.6 CEUs earned.
Type 021N, but that is due to solids handling problems in the Training Course or Workshop
primary clarifier that are under consideration for optimization. Duration: 2 days Sponsor: US EPA For
More Information: Registration and additional
Prior to Bioaugmentation program changes informationhttp://www.epa.gov/epahome/exitepa.htm
Smaller floc with lots of filaments Photos taken at 100x bright http://www.epa.gov/epahome/exitepa.htm about the 2-day
field Zooglea and spirrilum Photos taken at 400x bright field course is available.

We have found some very interesting as well as informational

websites on the Internet. We hope you enjoy these and we will
provide a few more each month! If you have a special request, let
us know since we explore the world through the Internet all the
time!!

National Environmental Performance Track Program -

After addition of MicroClear 118 and Micronutrients
Region 4 The U.S. EPA National Environmental Performance
Track (Performance Track) is designed to recognize and
encourage top environmental performers - those who go beyond
compliance with regulatory requirements. EPA encourages
facilities to maintain existing participation in other EPA partnership
and state programs while joining the Performance Track.
http://www.epa.gov/performancetrack/

COMING NEXT MONTH . . . . .

Large compact floc structures Both of these photos taken at
100x bright field Significant increase in higher life forms, rotifers,
less filaments and TSS. The primary clarifier still needs a bit of Beneficial Reuse in Industrial facilities
Solids Handling and ways to optimize- land application